A Spartan's Story
by ParaGhost
Summary: This is a story of a girl and her best friend that get sucked into the halo universe, and join the Noble Team… Will they survive?


A Spartan's Story

Chapter 1

"Jake! Watch out!" I said as a zombie nearly stabbed my friend. I jumped out and shot the zombie before it could come back at him.

"Thanks Crystal," Jake replied. The game ended and Jake had the higher score on the Xbox.

"Wow, great score, Jake!" I said. "It shouldn't be long before you are promoted again.

"Yeah, you too, Crystal. You got a pretty good score too; you got 20 kills!" he replied, laughing loudly into the headset.

I was at home, playing on my Xbox360 and talking to my best friend over Xbox Live. He lives on the other side of the world, and I live in Australia, so the headset was a great way to communicate. We had been playing Alpha Zombies on Reach for ages!

"Wanna go again, Crystal?" Jake asked.

"Sure. Whatever you want to do," I replied flicking my honey coloured hair out of my face.

Jake and I were just about best friends. We were always flinging insults at each other, but neither of us minded. It was hilarious.

"Ok. How bout we play on the Sniper Map I made?" he suggested.

"I would like that, Jake!" I said. "Wouldn't it be so cool if Reach was real?"

"Yeah, it would be awesome, but how would you explain the re-spawning?" he asked.

"Simple. You would be a specially trained super soldier who wouldn't die. You know what they say right? Spartans never die."

We both chuckled as the game started, and I ran up onto the cliff. I scoped in on the obstacle course he had made. I waited for him to start running through it.

"I don't want to kill you though," I grumbled.

"Aww, I know, but since Fireblade and Jagman aren't here, you have to," he replied, laughing.

"Oh, okay…" I replied, scowling even though Jake couldn't see it.

I was annoyed that I couldn't seem to get him. He just kept dodging the bullets. Finally, I got him, and the game ended.

"Thanks, Jake. That was cool. You're totally awesome!"

"No, Crystal, you're awesome."

"No I'm not and you know it.

"Yes you are! Come on, let's just be equally awesome."

"Fine. But you're epic," I said quietly, hoping the headset wouldn't pick it up.

He heard though and said, "Crystal," in a serious voice. He tried to keep the laughter back.

I couldn't help but laugh, and that set him off too. Mum came through and said, "Beth! What's going on in there? You are extremely loud you know."

"Sorry Mum!" I said. Jake heard and laughed even harder.

"Lets go again, Crystal. This time, I am the Sniper," he said.

"Ok-" I started to say, but suddenly a bright light flooded my vision. I screamed and I heard Jake yell, too. Then, I wasn't there anymore. I don't know where I was. A silvery noise was all I could hear. It was so loud, I couldn't even here myself scream. I blacked out, and everything went quiet.

Chapter 2

I woke to find myself in a grey room with hints of purple. It was quite large, and looked familiar, even though I was sure I hadn't been there before. As I turned, my eyes saw something that made me gasp. There was a large window, and outside the landscape mimicked that of planet Reach. But no, that wasn't possible. I heard a groan, and span around and to see another person waking up. The person was a guy of about 20. On his chest, there was a nametag that read in big black letters, Jake.

"Uh, Jake? Is that you?" I asked.

"Yeah," said a really familiar voice. "Wait a minute, I know your voice. I know that voice as Crystal."

"That's me!" I said. "My real name is Skye, though."

"Nice name. I found out earlier than I thought I would," he replied. "Where are we? The last thing I remember was playing with you on the Xbox, then there was a bright light, then I woke up here.

"Yeah, same," I replied. "This room looks really familiar, though I don't think I've been here before."

"Yeah, this room _is _familiar," he said.

"There is a window over there. Lets see if we can get some answers," I said quietly.

Looking out of the window, I was sure of it. This must be Reach. But again, there was a voice in the back of head telling me it wasn't possible.

"Skye," Jake started to say, deadly quiet.

"What? What is it, Jake?"

"Skye, we are in Reach!" he said.

"Yes, you are in Reach," A computer generated voice boomed. It sounded female. "My name is Auntie Dot. I am an AI. Welcome to Reach."

Chapter 3

We rounded a corner and found the Noble Team waiting for us: Kat, Carter, Jun, Emile and Jorge.

"Welcome to the Noble Team, Skye and Jake," said Carter.

"Wait, how is this possible?" I asked. They all looked at me in confusion. "What year is it?"

"It's the year 2551, why?" Jorge said, looking at me curiously.

I sank to the floor and put my head in my hands. Jake crouched next to me and put a hand on my shoulder.

Looking up at Carter he said, "Back in our time, the year is 2010. Planet Reach, Spartans, the Covenant, they are all part of a video game called Halo. Being flung into this reality without warning, its quite daunting."

"We have been watching you and Skye for 2 years now. We chose you out of all the children on earth to become Spartans. You have been cloned, and your clones have taken your place on earth," Kat explained.

I started to cry, and medics came into the room. They walked towards Jake and me.

"You two are going to now go through augmentations to become Spartans," Carter started to say. "In a few months, you will be super soldiers."

We were separated and taken off into two rooms.

Going through augmentations was a pain. And I mean it hurt. Badly. The medics didn't give me enough anesthetics and I woke up 2 months into it, when they were going through an extremely painful procedure.

"Ma'am, she is waking up," I heard a voice say. I felt different. Bigger. Stronger. My first instinct was to fight. I started thrashing around and then I felt a sting in my shoulder. I fell asleep almost instantaneously.

When I woke up next time, it was all over. The doctor administered a strong painkiller and I felt much better.

_A few hours later_

I had been reunited with Jake and the Noble Team. I was amazed at how tall I was, and strong. I knew the basics of fighting; self defense, how to use a Magnum, how to use any weapon. I knew how to creep up on someone and assassinate him or her. As I thought about what I could do, I realized that I was really a killing machine. I reached over and grabbed Jake's hand, and he squeezed mine for reassurance.

I had armor on. Full Mark VI to be exact. It was surprisingly comfortable, and it was the colors I wanted. The primary was Steel, and the secondary was Electric Blue. I looked over at Jake, he had the same armor as mine, but his colors were Steel and Red.

"Skye, you are our new number 6. You are our Hyper Lethal Vector," Carter said to me. Turning to Jake, he said "Jake, you are Noble seven."

We acknowledged our new designations, and everyone went off to their quarters for a rest.

Chapter 4

Jun came into my quarters the next morning and woke me up. I looked at the time on my HUD. 0500 hours. Once I stood up, he led me to Jake's quarters, and we woke him up. He jumped out of his bed in fright and we laughed. Jake took my hand and we walked to the training room.

"Today, we will be training," Jun said.

"Why? I know everything I need to know, 3," I said.

"You can call me Jun, Six, and the reason we are doing this is to get you up to full strength. And you are also a lot faster, stronger, and taller than you are used to. You need to learn how to use your new body properly," Jun said. "Both of you have been equipped with a special ability. Six, yours is jumping. Yes, Spartans can jump pretty well, but you can jump much higher than any other Spartan that exists. Jake, yours is speed. You are ten times faster than any other Spartan alive."

Before we started, Jun pulled me aside.

"Skye, you have been equipped with an AI. His, or rather its, name is Deja. Treat him nicely," he quietly over a private comm. I looked at him with astonishment even though I knew he couldn't see my face.

"Yes, sir," I said back to him.

Training was, well, easy. I cleared every situation I was put in with ease. I saw Jake found it easy too. Jun, however, put up a certain course that ended my 'course clearing spree'. He set off quite a few holographic elites, and explained to us that all their attacks would feel real. For example, if a needler hit you, you better run because if any other needles hit you, they would explode inside you. Ouch. That didn't sound good.

Training started, and I ran for cover. Yeah, I was a lone wolf, but I did try to stick close to Jake.

Jun had let us choose our own weapons, and I had chosen a Sniper Rifle and a Shotgun. Climbing up on a ledge, I lay down and prepared to snipe. I had 12 bullets, so I could afford a few misses. An elite carelessly tripped over a piece of shrapnel, and gave away his position. I took aim, and fired, sniping him.

Another elite came over to see what was happening, and I shot at it. I missed. "Dang!" I said out loud to myself. Being more careful, I shot again and clipped its shields. "Really?" I asked myself. Shooting again, I took it down.

_I could help you kill them more easily, Skye._

_Haha, no thanks Deja, I have to do this on my own. You will be extremely helpful in battle though._

_As you wish, Skye._

I saw Jake running into a group of 4 elites with a shotgun, and cleverly taking them all down. I was impressed, and decided I could do better. Jumping off my ledge, I ran through several elites, sniping each one of them. My Sniper Rifle ran out of ammo, so I chucked it down on the ground and got out my Shotgun and prepared for action. I saw one elite standing about 7m away from me, so I started to go towards it. Unfortunately, I walked straight into a trap, and I heard the sound of an energy sword being activated behind me.

"No!" I heard Jake shout in the background.

_Skye!_

Pain. I felt the burning sword of pure energy slice down my back.

"AHHHHHH!" I screamed. I collapsed and faintly heard an alarm being sounded, and Jun running into the training grounds. Jake got to me first and knelt down beside me.

"Skye! Skye, it's going to be ok. Please just stay calm," I heard him say. Medics rushed into the room towards me, and I blacked out.

Chapter 4

My eyes cracked open. I was lying on my side in a sick bay. Great. What had I done this time? Looking at the time I saw it was 1930 hours. I groaned as I tried to turn over, but gave in to the pain.

_Please, Skye, I can help close the wound on your back so your back is smooth again. A scar will still be there, but it won't hurt anymore._

_Ok Deja, just make it quick._

There was an itching sensation on my back as Deja healed the wound. The skin was knitting back together, and my back was once again smooth. I heard a knock on the door, then a voice.

"Skye, are you awake? Can I come in?" Jake said.

"Sure, come on in, Jake," I said quietly. He came in and walked straight over to me.

"How are ya feeling, girl?" he asked.

I chuckled. "Been better."

I still had most of my armor on, but from the waist up, all I was wearing was a cotton shirt.

"It's all coming back to me," I said. "Haha, I saw how you ran into the group of elites and take them down, so I decided that I could do better."

"Oh, Skye. You are funny, aren't you?" he laughed. He leaned over and gave me a quick hug. "Hey, the reason I came was to ask if you were up to a race? The Noble Team, it seems, have a racetrack. We are gonna pair up and use mongooses. Wanna play?"

"Hahaha, yes, I'm going to play. Who will I go with?" I said giggling.

"You will ride behind me, and that's that," he said firmly, but his green eyes were twinkling and laughing.

I smirked at him and stood up to put the rest of my armor back on. He walked out of the room to go tell the Commander that I would be participating. I pulled up the gel skin suit that went under my armor, and then proceeded to put on the rest of my armor.

Using the tracker on my HUD, I found the other Nobles quite quickly.

"Come on you slow coach!" Jun yelled. "It has been ages since we had a race, and I am ready for one!

"These are the teams," Carter started. "Kat, you are with me, Jorge with Emile, Jun with a random Marine or ODST, Skye with Jake. Go find your vehicles and mount!"

Jake and I found our mongoose. Oh Yeah! It was purple. This game is going to be awesome!

I jumped into the drivers seat, and Jake chuckled as he got on behind me.

"Skye, don't go too fast," Jake said through a private comm.

"Jake. Really. This is a race, and I am on your team," I said. "Of course I am going to go fast."

The race started, and the others all took off. I lagged behind a bit.

"What's the matter, Six? Are we too fast for you?" Jun said through the comm.

I didn't reply, but I knew exactly what I was doing. Looking up ahead, I saw a sharp corner coming up. When the others slowed down, I pulled the throttle hard and we zoomed past them. We drifted around the corner, and then I sped up again going down a straight.

"Woohoo!" I yelled. "This is awesome!"

In no time at all, everyone except Jake and me and Carter and Kat had been knocked off the racetrack. It came down to the finale straight. The others, as I said, had either slid of the racetrack or had lagged too far behind, and they were waiting at the finish line. We were already going as fast as we could, without completely ruining the engine. Carter and Kat were slowly going past us.

"Ha HA! Take that Skye and Jake!" Carter yelled as they past us. No. I would not let them win!

I pulled the throttled harder, going way faster than the engine could withstand, and we sped past them. The engine started to make a really wrong sound. Looking up, the finish line was near, and everyone was waiting and watching to see who would win. The engine started whining. The finish line was right there.

"Bail out!" I screamed. We both jumped off just as the mongoose exploded. I flipped in the air, and landed on my feet, sliding a meter. Jake landed beside me, and pieces of shrapnel from the mongoose flew past us.

The rest of the Team came up to us and Jorge hoisted us up onto his shoulders.

"YEAH!" they all screamed. "JAKE AND SKYE! YEAH!"

I laughed as Jorge put us down, and I hugged Jake. We all then went to the mess hall for dinner.

Chapter 5

It was late. 12am to be exact. We had all gone to our quarters. The quarters all were next door to the other, with a small window in the wall so we could communicate with the next person if we wanted. I was in quarters in between Jorge and Jake.

I decided that I needed to take a shower, so I did. I then changed into shorts and a tank top, and proceeded to clean my armour, then I went to bed.

Later that night, I was awoken by a loud _SWISH _sound. Looking around my room, I saw a light in the corner. Then, I heard feet shuffling. There was an Elite in my room with an Energy Sword! Reacting quickly, I grabbed my pistol and jumped out of bed.

"Jake! Wake up and get through here!" I said through the window. I heard someone stumble out of bed and walk out of their room and into my room. When Jake saw the elite, he snapped awake and pulled out his knife. I saw what he intended to do, and started distracting the elite, hoping that it wouldn't notice Jake behind it.

"Hey! Over here!" I said. "Bet you can't get me!"

The elite shuffled towards me, and Jake acted quickly. He reached up and grabbed the elites shoulders, and used its leg armour to climb up it. He put the knife on the elites neck and slit its throat. The elite fell to the ground, dead.

"Skye! Skye are you ok?" Jake asked. He looked concerned as I sank down onto my bed.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," I said. "It was just a bit of a shock. What was it doing in my room? How did it get here?"

"Let's wait til morning before we answer that question, shall we?" he asked me gently. I stood up and walked over to him and he opened his arms. I sank into his arms and he held me as I shivered from shock.

"Haha, I shouldn't be so scared. I am a SPARTAN after all," I said chuckling.

"Hehe, its ok. Just go back to bed and we will deal with this tomorrow," Jake smiled at me, and I smiled back. "I am surprised Jorge or the others haven't woken. They must all be very heavy sleepers…"

I agreed, and after one last hug, Jake left and went back to his room. I crept quietly over to my bed and fell asleep.

The next morning…

"Wake up, wake up!" Carter bellowed into my room. Startled, I grabbed my pistol and shot him in the foot.

"Yowch!"Carter yelped. "Why would you do that?"

He started hopping around which was hysterical to watch. I knew it didn't actually hurt that much; he was just carrying on. Carter then noticed the dead elite on the floor and froze.

"What on earth?! Why is there a dead elite in your room Skye?" he asked me frantically. By this stage, Jake had come through and was standing behind Carter.

"Skye woke up last night and found this elite in the corner of her room. It tried to kill her, but I didn't let it," Jake said.

"He assassinated it," I said.

"Well, congratulations on your first assassination," he said to Jake. Turning to me he yelled, "Why didn't you tell me last night when it happened?!"

"We thought it would be best to leave it till morning," Jake said. Jake noticed that I was still in shock from the night before. "And Carter, please, it was my idea not to tell you, so please don't yell at Skye. She has nothing to do with it."

"Haha, you two are a funny pair, aren't you? Always protecting each other," he said. "Lets go get the others and then head down to the mess hall for breakfast. Skye, you get into your armour while Jake and I go and get the others, ok?"

We agreed and I started to change into my armour. I pulled the gel lining up to my waist, then looked at my back in the mirror to see if there was any scarring from the training incident. Yes. There was a line form the top of my right shoulder going across my back to my left hip. Lovely. The scar, however, was only very faint, as though it had happened a long time ago. Sighing, I continued to get my armour on.

I met up with the others and we started walking towards the mess hall. The mess hall lay over a ridge overlooking a lake. It was quite a beautiful place.

As we got to the ridge, we all stopped in shock.

"Noble Team, prepare for action," Carter said through the comm.

Right there before our eyes, were several dozen Covenant drop pods. Elite, Hunters, Jackals, Grunts. They were all there. Everyone started sprinting for the weapons bunker and we picked out our weapons.

Carter, of course, went for the DMR. Kat loaded up on extra Magnum ammo and grabbed her Magnum. Jun got his Sniper Rifle, and Emile grabbed his Shotgun. Jorge hefted up his machine gun turrent, and I grabbed a Rocket Launcher and a DMR. Jake looked around and his choice of weapons was an Assault Rifle, and a grenade launcher. Noble Team spread out and started the attack.

There were already Marines fighting, and plasma was everywhere. I ran into the fight with Emile and Jorge by my sides. Shooting an Elite in the face, it immediately dropped dead on the ground. I took out copious amount of jackals and grunts, then moved on to help the others with the larger Covenant species. Seeing a plasma grenade on the ground, I grabbed and stuck an Elite, who quite stupidly ran off into 3 of his kind, exploding them. I chuckled, then I went for the Hunters.

Booyah! This was what I brought my rocket launcher for! There were only 4 Hunters, but I was going to make them wish they never even set foot on Reach. I saw a slanted rock, and ran up it. Jumping off, I shot my rocket launcher at one of the Hunters backs and took it down. The next one was harder. He had turned around, protecting his back from me but I shot my rocket launcher anyway. The rocket sent him back a few feet, and I reloaded. Reloading took a little longer because I was constantly dodging spheres of burning, green plasma.

"Noble! I need backup!" I yelled into the comm.

"On my way, Six," I heard Jake say back.

Taking aim again, I took out the Hunter, but before I could react to the others, I was sent flying. A Hunter had punched me across my back. I landed on my arm which cracked a few times, but I got up and started reigning bullets from my DMR down on the next Hunter. Jake came up behind the beast and started pummelling its back.

"Jake! Watch out!" I screamed.

The one remaining Hunter came up behind Jake and lifted his arm to punch him. I ran over and jumped up over him, pushing him out of the way. The Hunter brought its arm down on my and I crumpled to the ground. I saw the other Nobles running over taking the Hunter down on the way. Some red liquid started dripping down into my eyes, and I soon realised it was blood. I blacked out.

When I woke, I was in a hospital room. Great. What had I done _this _time?

_Skye._

A green figure came to life on a holo pad on a console. It was wearing casual clothes. A t-shirt, jeans, a leather jacket and black sneaker. Deja was also carrying a skate board with a UNSC logo on the underside of it.

_Deja. How are you?_

_Just fine, but I should ask, how are you?_

_Hahaha I haven't felt so good in my life!_

_I heard sarcasm in that, Skye._

_Haha!_

_Skye, unfortunately, your wounds are to great for me to heal properly. I can take most of your pain away though._

I instantly felt so much better. There was a knock on the door and the Noble Team came in, smiling and greeting me. All of us were dressed in casual clothes, even Emile, but he still had his helmet on. Jake jogged over to me and enveloped me and a bear hug.

"Six, how are you feeling?" everyone asked me.

"Haha, just fine now that you are all here," I smiled back at them all.

Chapter 6

It took about two months for me to fully recover, and by that time Noble Team had completely wiped all trace of the Covenant in the area. Carter had surprised us by taking us on vacation to a pretty much, deserted base in the middle of nowhere.

"Skye! Come back here!" Emile shouted.

"No way! You want to tie me into a warthog and send it off a cliff!" I yelled back.

"Oh come on. It won't be that bad!" I heard him shout back.

I groaned. Emile had come up with this ridiculous idea about thirty minutes ago. As soon as he had gotten the idea, he looked straight at me thinking I would be perfect for the job. I had been running away from him ever since. Panting hard, drenched in sweat, I had really had enough of this already. I ran into the lounge room where everyone was either reclining on the sofas or sitting using their laptops.

"Help me please!" I said between gasps for air.

"No can do, Six, we are all enjoying ourselves, and as long as Emile is busy chasing you, we are able to sit here in comfort. You are on your own!" Carter laughed at me.

Nearly in tears, I suddenly had a great idea. Even though I was big compared to Marines and ODSTs and humans, I was actually quite small compared to the Spartans, and miniscule compared to Jorge who was a Spartan II. I lay down on the ground in the doorway, and curled up into a ball. Emile came running into the room, but didn't see me. He tripped over the ball in the doorway and stumbled towards Jorge. Jorge caught him in a big bear hug, giving me time to escape.

As I jogged through the corridor, I heard Emile shout:

"Let go of me Jorge! Now is not the time for hugs! I must complete my objective!"

Laughing I kept jogging, but then heard Emile's footsteps in the hall behind me.

_Keep running Skye! Shall I set up a force field around you?_

_Nah Deja, this is actually getting amusing. Sitting around all day doing nothing is boring._

_Okay… but if he does catch you, I am going to help whether you like it or not!_

I ran around the massive base once again, and then back to the lounge room.

"I've had enough!" I yelled at the top of my strong lungs. I hid behind Jake just as Emile ran into the room.

"Where oh where are you?" Emile asked me.

He spotted me hiding behind Jake and ran around so he was in front of me. Before he could try and grab me, I punched him, and he retaliated. I dodge and knocked him to the floor. I turned to walk away, but he grabbed my foot and pulled me down. As I fell towards him, the only emotion on my face was that of anger. I twisted around in the air, and brought my hand down onto his jaw, making an imprint of my fist on the skin. Jumping up I waited for him to stand up. When he did, I kicked him in his shin.

"Ouch! That's not fair!" Emile squealed with one hand on his injured jaw, and another on his shin.

"Aw come on you big baby! You are the assault specialist on the team, but I think I should take your place!" I mocked.

Toughening up, he was just about to punch me, and I was dropping into a fighting stance, when a robotic arm blocked us from each other.

"Come on, Kat! I was having fun beating Emile up!" I whined.

"You two are Spartans and you are fighting like children!" she shouted. "Now grow up!"

"Yes mum," I said sarcastically. As she turned away, I kicked out at Emile, and got him in his lower stomach. He yelled in pain and fell to the floor. I chuckled and sat down beside Jake.

_**A couple of hours later…**_

Carter had been off doing some paperwork and was walking back to the lounge room where the rest of Noble Team was. When he got just a few corridors away, he heard a yell and ran into the room. He looked down to see Jake on the ground doubled over in pain. Emile was laughing his head off a few feet away.

"What just happened?" Carter asked.

"Emile found a rubber band…" Jun started to say.

"He put it around Jake's head and stretched it back, and…" Jorge added.

"And I let go!" Emile said with a proud and triumphant look on his face earning not only an extremely stern look from Carter, but also a shove from me, which sent him across the room.

Carter sighed and helped Jake to his feet.

"OUCH! There's going to be a mark! Is there a mark?" he asked sobbing.

"Yep, right there!" Emile said, smacking Jake on his forehead, and I immediately got between Jake and Emile and hit him.

Carter sighed to himself as he watched Emile and Jake. _Why did I get these two on my team? He thought._

I walked over to Jake and hugged him. He smiled down at me and I couldn't help but laugh at the purple line across his forehead. Walking over to Emile, I gave him a hug too. Surprised, he returned the hug, but was then shoved down onto the couch.

"You are IT!" I yelled at him. Noble Team laughed and started running away from Emile. We played Tag until the sun went down, then we collapsed in a heap in the lounge room.

"Ugh, we are being so childish," Kat said.

"Come on Kat! You are so boring and mature!" Jun said. Everyone but Kat laughed. We sat down and drank hot cocoa and then went to bed.

_**The next day…**_

We were all standing around the bench island in the middle of the kitchen, drinking coffee and finishing up breakfast.

"Hey! Want to see what I found?" Emile said. His big blue eyes lighted up.

"Okay, what is it," Jorge asked. Emile ran off to get whatever it was he found.

"Its probably an old lolly pop," Jun said, chuckling.

He came back with an odd looking gadget.

"It's a leaf blower thingymiggar," he said proudly, mischief in his blue eyes.

"That thing is ancient!" Kat exclaimed. "From the 21st century and all!"

"But its still fun to play with," Emile said. He turned it on, and pointed it at me, blowing my honey coloured hair all over the place.

"Hey! Stop!" I said laughing. I scooped all my hair up into a pony tail so it wouldn't get in the way.

He looked cheekily around the room and asked, "Does anyone have an office chair?"

Chapter 7

"YAHOOO!" Emile screamed as he flew down the street on his office chair/leaf blower contraption. Jake sighed and grabbed my hand. We ran around the corner after Emile and straight into a girl with what looked like her boyfriend.

"Who is that?" asked the girl.

"An idiot and somehow, our very good friend," I replied. We heard a crash and a bang and Jake looked at me. "Oh, no!"

We ran around the corner to find Emile sitting under a stall, his contraption was lying in quite a few pieces.

"It exploded! Good thing I was wearing my armor," he said.

I couldn't help but laugh at him and Jake laughed too as he walked over to Emile. He helped him up, paid for all the food that was originally on the stall, and said, "Ok, Emile, time to go home!"

"Aw, already?" Emile whined.

"Yes already!" I said. "We have been playing with that leaf blower for 6 hours!"

I linked arms with him and Jake took my hand and we started walking home.

When we got home, Jun and Carter were watching a movie from the 21st century, The Avengers, Kat was in her room reading and Jorge was on YouTube watching Ultimate Fails videos.

"Haha, next time Carter, you have to come!" I said. "It was SO much fun!"

Carter laughed, and said, "Ok, Six, you got it. Next time Emile finds an office chair and a leaf blower, I will join in!"

I was so tired I just went straight to bed. Lying there, I remembered. Tomorrow was my birthday. I wondered if Jake remembered or not.

_Don't worry, Skye, I will remember._

_Hahaha thanks Deja._

_Hmm I will remember to say Happy Birthday, but I can't get you anything…_

_Oh, Deja. You don't need to get me anything! Haha good night, Deja._

_Goodnight, Skye._

Chapter 8

The next morning, I woke up at 0600 hours. I slipped into some track pants and a tank top, and walked into the kitchen. Everything was dark. I looked around, and saw the end of a streamer on the ground. I tried walking towards it, but was interrupted by the lights coming on, and confetti flying all over me.

"HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY SKYE!" everyone shouted.

_Happy Birthday Skye!_

_Thanks, Deja!_

Looking around, streamers lined the ceiling, balloons littered the floor, and on the island in the middle of the kitchen was a beautiful, blue iced cake. I started crying with joy. But someone was missing.

"Where's Emile?" I asked. Carter chuckled.

"Uhhh, well, umm," he started. "Jun and Emile were messing around with the streamers, and well, Emile got a bit tied up…"

I laughed hard, and Emile stood up from behind the counter. He was well and truly tied up in streamers.

"I don't know what to say!" I breathed out. I walked around the room and gave everyone hugs and kisses. Jake walked over to me and said, "Happy Birthday, Skye."

Staring into his eyes, I got lost in them. I was daydreaming, and then I felt his lips against mine. I gasped, but then I started kissing him back. We broke away from each other, and then he enveloped me in a hug.

Emile handed me his newly sharpened knife to cut the cake with.

"Remember Skye, when you touch the bottom, you have to kiss the nearest boy!" Kat laughed. I cut the cake, and Carter copped a kiss on the cheek.

We ate the cake, and then we ran outside to have some fun. The team had already prepared some water balloons and we threw them at each other. In the end, we were all drenched! I found a footy, and we played a game of football, then we had a game of basketball. Jun ran around spraying everyone with disinfectant spray. (Yeah, in this story, Jun is a clean freak) Without realizing, we played all day, and before we knew it, the sun was setting on the horizon.

Going inside, we went straight to our warm, soft beds.

Chapter 9

As our vacation went on, Kat got more and more irritating. She kept yelling at us for no reason, and just being plain annoying. The team had planned a picnic up on a cliff, and Emile, Jorge, and Jun had already gone up there, leaving Carter, Kat, Jake and me to pack the four huge picnic baskets. We were in the four-wheel drive waiting for Kat to come out of the base.

"Skye! You have left your room a mess! I expect you to clean it as soon as you get home!" she screamed at me.

"Oh shut up Kat and get in the car!" I yelled.

"No. You have to drive the car over to me first," she replied, turning her nose up in the air.

"Chhh, not likely," I said, and drove off leaving Kat behind shaking her fist at me in anger.

"Wait for me!" Kat screamed. Jake and Carter burst out laughing.

"Nice Skye! Hopefully that will teach her a lesson!" Jake shouted over the wind.

"Yeah!" Carter replied grinning.

We arrived at the picnic site and Jake and Carter unloaded the stuff. Kat came speeding up the cliff on a mongoose; her face red with rage. I chuckled, and picked up my Sniper Rifle to go and do some target practice with Emile.

"How dare you!" she screamed. I giggled back.

"Come and do some target practice with us!" I said in a mocking voice. She moved to punch me, and I held up my Sniper at her.

"Kat, I go have a Sniper Rifle and I am not afraid to use it," I said in a grave voice. "Don't even think of hitting me."

Kat sighed and said, "How come we have a Hyper Lethal Vector on our team? Anyway, what are we going to play?"

"Let's play Spartans and Elites!" Jake said.

"What the… What the heck is Spartans and Elites?" Emile asked.

"It's the Spartan version of Cops and Robbers!" Jake said laughing. "The Elites are running from the Spartans. Skye and Emile, you are with me. Carter, Kat, Jun and Jorge, you are the Elites. This bunker is the prison. Go!"

We played Spartans and Elites for quite and while, then we sat down and had a late lunch. After lunch, Carter suggested we play 20 questions, so we played that for ages. After a while, we were all bored, so we had a competition to see who could take down the most targets with a Sniper Rifle. I won, and we went back to the picnic area and we all sat down against a massive boulder watching the sky turn pink as the sun set.

Jake scooted closer to me, then pulled me into his arms. I rested my head against his chest, and saw Carter do the same with Kat. We all watched the sun. It was a truly beautiful sight. Looking off the cliff and onto the horizon, the gorgeous orange sun sank down lower and lower. The way the golden rays of the sun shot up into the clouds, turning them a soft red was amazing. As the golden jets of light shot down onto the land making it pink, I felt filled with energy. The sight was enchanting, and the pink land held my gaze. I was content. In this world of craziness and war, I was finally content. Looking at my wonderful team, I realized they were all as close as family to me, and I had an amazing boyfriend who loved and cared for me. It all felt right somehow.

Once the sun had gone down, I stood up, and the rest of the team did the same, and we went to the cars and loaded up the baskets. Jake walked away, and then I saw he was walking towards the mongoose Kat had brought. I followed.

"Race you home guys!" I shouted then jumped on behind Jake, wrapping my arms around him smiling.

In order to win, we took a short cut and were back at the base in no time. As the rest of the team pulled up, we were standing around drinking coffee and eating cookies, much to their annoyance. For the rest of the evening we sat around playing board games until we all either fell asleep on the couch or retired to our quarters.

Chapter 10

_Beep, Beep, Beep._

I woke up to the sound of my alarm going off. I reached over to my knife and through it and embedded it in the wall right next to the console.

"Ahh! Every time you do that, I am scared you are going to hit the console!" Deja's voice came.

"Haha, I would never actually hit the console, Deja," I replied chuckling.

"Are you up yet, Skye?" Carter's voice came through the comm.

"No, I'm still asleep," I replied.

"Come on, time to go. The Pelican is waiting for you," he said.

I really wasn't looking forward to fighting the Covenant in less than 5 hours. We were so lucky to have gotten a break from the war, but now it was time to get back into the fight.

I jogged down to the Pelican and was really grateful for the fact that my armor was comfortable.

Everyone was waiting for me and we boarded the plane. It wasn't an extremely long flight to our old base, but we Spartans get really bored if we don't have anything to do. We started hand sparring. I versed Emile, and lost, but Jake versed him and won!

"Okay everyone, sit down. I am preparing to land," Kat said. We all sat down and I shivered with excitement. It had been ages since we had seen our old base and I was excited.

"Oh my gosh," Kat said. She sounded horrified. "Commander, you had better take a look at this."

As soon as Kat set the pelican down, we all jumped off to see what she was so horrified at. When I jumped down, I immediately stopped and sank down onto the ground. Carter put a hang on my shoulder and asked, "Do you want to stay in the Pelican?" I shook me head.

I walked around. Corpses from the people who had been taking care of the base lay everywhere, and the scary thing was that the corpses were fresh. Whoever, or whatever did this was probably still around.

"Well, talk about a warm welcome," Jorge, said, gulping.

I groaned and doubled over as I turned a corner. The room was full of body parts. Arms, legs, heads. It was horrible. Jake put his arm around me. I buried my head into his armored neck. He put his other arm around me as Carter passed us.

"What did this!?" he yelled, infuriated. "All of those good people. Dead. There were so many young adults here too. They're all gone!"

"Carter!" Kat said. "Keep your voice down! Whatever did this might still be here!"

A growl answered her. "Emile! Stop growling!" Kat said harshly.

"That wasn't me Kat," Emile said. Another growl, much louder this time cam from the back room.

"Jake? What was that?" I asked in a shaky voice.

"I don't know Skye, but stay with me," he said.

Emile walked up beside me and shoved me forward. "Stop being so afraid! You are a super soldier! A Spartan!"

In anger, I took out my pistol and shot his foot. The bullet only grazed his skin, but I knew it stung.

Carter walked over to punch me. I deserved it, but Jake wouldn't let him past.

"Now is not the time to be punching people, Carter," Jake said, placing himself in between Carter and myself.

"Don't question me!" he yelled. A monster emerged behind him from the back room. It was HUGE! Bigger that 3 Hunters, but the way it moved was similar to a Hunter. It had an arm that came down into a club. The other had 4 long clawed fingers on it. The creature had transparent skin, and raw red muscle pushed against it. It had red eyes and a huge mouth that gaped open. It had rotten, brown teeth. They were sharp pointy teeth, and too many of them were in its mouth, wrecking the gums. It stood up straight and it growled again and it sounded like thunder. Blood came out of its mouth as if it had just eaten something. The monster swiped its clubbed arm at Carter.

"Carter!" I screamed. I rushed past Jake and pushed Carter over. I fell heavily on top of him and rolled off to fight. The creatures club had missed Carter by a centimeter. Jake ran forward and chucked a grenade at the creature. The grenade just made the monster angrier. We all opened fire, I concentrated on its head. I saw Emile and Jorge go around behind the monster and shoot its back.

_I will supply you with extra shielding. Go!_

_Deja, you are a lifesaver. Literally. _

I ran over to the thing and used its clubbed arm as a sort of ladder. Jorge and Emile continued firing its back as I climbed up to its head. Unsheathing my knife, I jumped and brought the knife down into the flesh of its neck. The monster screamed and fell to the ground, writhing in pain. We all crowded around the thing with puzzled expressions on our faces.

"What on Planet Reach was that!?" Jorge asked.

"Whatever it was, it was extremely unclean," Jun said. He then pulled out a huge bottle of disinfectant and started pouring it over the monster.

"Jun," I called. "It's dead. There's no point."

_I knew you could take it down Skye!_

_Why thank you Deja. Love you!_

_Love ya too._

"We need a new base. This one is wrecked," Carter said as Jun came up behind him.

"First, I think we should name the monster," Kat said. "What about we call it the Berserker?"

"Great name choice, Kat," I said, holding my fingers over my visor in the shape of a smile.

"Noble Team, I was supposed to tell you before, but we are getting a new member added to the team," Carter said.

"What?!" I yelled. "How long have you known this?!"

"Umm, for about a week," he replied.

I walked over to him and grabbed his arm.

"Why the heck didn't you tell us sooner?" I yelled at him.

"I am sorry team, I guess I just didn't know how." He replied.

I let the matter go, and we got back onto the Pelican. Kat took us to the place we would meet out new team member.

Chapter 11

We had gone to the co-ordinates that HQ had sent us and waited. Eventually, we heard a Falcon in the air. Looking over, we saw a Spartan jump out from about 30ft in the air. When the Spartan landed, I saw by the Spartans build that it was a guy. Great. Another guy added to the team. His armor was full Recon and his colors were Red and White.

"Hey Guys! I'm your knew Spartan! My name is Thom! How are ya doing?" he asked us. I knew instantly that with his out going personality we were going to get along just fine.

"Hello! This is Carter, Noble Team's leader, this is Kat, number two, this is Jun, number three, this is Emile and Jorge, four and five, I'm 6, and this is Jake, number seven. Welcome to the team!" I said, removing my helmet.

"Six? What kind of a name is that?" he asked.

_Boy he is rude. Go closer to him so I can teach him just who he is messing with!_

_Deja! He is just trying to get to know us better!_

_I guess that's ok then… He is still rude though…_

"That, Thom, is my nick name," I replied smiling. Jake came up beside me chuckling.

"Well Thom, we should be moving out," Kat said. We all groaned so she said, "Ok, ok, we can stay the night here if you want so badly."

Jake and I laughed. I looked around. The area we were in was originally a battlefield, and there were still weapons strewn all over the place.

"Hey, lets play 'Who can find the most plasma grenades and get to Carter first'!" Jake shouted. He and I paired off and Jorge and Emile went off together. He and I grabbed as many grenades as we could and ran back to Carter with Jorge and Emile hot on our heels. We beat them to Carter and dumped our grenades down in front of him.

"What's this?" Carter asked.

"You have to count them and see who got the most!" I said out of breath.

"Okay, Kat, you count Jorge and Emile's pile," he said laughing. She sighed and started counting. Thom laughed with Carter and started helping him count. Jake and I ended up with 50, and Emile and Jorge only got 40."

"Only ten off!" Emile shouted. "I don't believe it!"

By now, Carter had really had enough of us being immature, said, "Go and explode something with these grenades!"

"Yeah! That sounds great!" I said.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no!" Carter said to Kat. "Why did I say that?"

Kat laughed and shook her head at the fact that the members of her team were insanely crazy and hilarious.

Jake picked up all the grenades and I ran over to Thom. I grabbed his hand and pulled him along behind Jake.

"Now, Thom, you have joined this team, you are going to have to get used to our randomness!" I told him.

Thom laughed and squeezed my hand. I smiled and pulled my hand out of his and walked around to the other side of Jake. Jake looked down at me and kissed my cheek, smiling. We put out helmets on and started exploding stuff; anything we could get out hands on like overloading old weapons, plasma batteries, little rocks. Yeah, stuff like that. I saw a huge boulder and disappeared behind it to see what was hidden behind it.

All of a sudden a beautiful blue sphere landed next to Thom and exploded the ground. He jumped back in fright.

"Gahhhhh! WHAT was that?!" Thom screamed.

"Hahaha! Toughen up! That would be Skye in a wraith!" Jake laughed. "Don't worry too much. As long as you don't get in her way, you'll be fine!"

Unfortunately, Emile reacted badly to the wraith coming around the boulder. He thought there was a Covvie inside it and threw several sticky grenades at it. I didn't see them and kept driving.

"Skye! Get out!" Jake screeched. "Get out!"

I didn't realize that I had accidentally knocked my comm and it was on the wrong frequency, and I couldn't here a thing that Jake was saying. Seeing his mouth moving quickly, and him gesturing at the wraith, I jumped out to see what was going on. As soon as I jumped out, the plasma grenades exploded, sending me flying. I tried to maneuver myself so I would land on my feet, but I just couldn't and hit the ground quite hard.

Carter ran past Jake and the others to me and removed my helmet.

"Skye? Are you ok!" he asked me.

"Wha… Who did that?" I said quietly, slightly dazed. Carter helped me up to my feet and I leaned against Jake for support.

"How many times have I told you to be careful with what you stick with plasma grenades?!" Carter yelled at Emile.

"Carter, let me talk to him," I said. "Emile dear, come here please."

He walked over to me and I removed his helmet, and smiled at him. He was first angry that I had taken his helmet, but then went pale.

"What are you going to do Skye?" Emile asked. He looked scared. I smiled again, and reached up to where his knife was. I pulled it out of its sheath, and then threw it on the ground. I stomped on it only once, but that was enough to slightly bend the blade, cover it in scratches, and make it blunt.

"No, no, no, no!" Emile shouted. He looked close to tears. "Please no!"

I picked it up off the ground and handed it back to him. Thom backed slightly away, and I turned to look at him.

"Haha, Thom, don't be too scared, you needa toughen up! This is Noble Team after all, consisting of 6 extremely immature members, and one extremely mature member. Now that you have joined, choose which side you are going to be on," I said laughing. Everyone knew who the 'extremely mature member was, even Thom.

Everyone except Kat laughed, and she promptly walked over and slapped me in the face. I looked at her and just walked away, because I knew if I hit her, it would be a never-ending battle.

Chapter 12

After all that messing around with our newest team member, we had run to the new base. It was in a jungle, and was really nice. There was a row of dorms a nice walking distance away from the mess hall. I was given a dorm in between Emile and Jake. Great. Emile would keep me up all night sharpening his knife and cleaning his shotgun.

As the months went on, we were sent out to fight numerous numbers of Covenant, and all but once we defeated them. One that one occasion, we were forced to retreat, and get back up to full strength. When we had, we went back and finished the fight. We completely destroyed all signs of the Covenant that were in the area.

Thom was really fitting in with the team, and he, Jake and I had become best of friends. We were constantly hanging out together and fighting together. We were always telling jokes and laughing about the weirdest and littlest things. Carter and Kat looked on with smiles on their faces as they watched us.

Several months later...

Great. Another call to clear all traces of the Covenant in the area. We had been given a report that there were more Covvies than usual in the area, but I was ready. When I looked in the mirror, what I saw scared me a little. Looking back at me, was a Super Soldier, holding a DMR with a Sniper Rifle on her back. She had massive muscles, and grenades lined her waist. Her hair fell spilled down over her amour like honey. She had a strong jaw, and deep brown eyes. The messy hair was scooped into a pony tail and her helmet shoved onto her head. Her gold visor completely hid her emotionless face. She was a Hyper Lethal Vector. She was a Spartan. It was a daunting prospect. Life had changed so much for me.

When I got outside, I was greeted by my awesome bestie, Thom, and he was carrying his helmet under his arms.

"Thom, are you ok?" I asked with a hint of concern in my voice. "You look terrible."

"Haha, I'll live," he replied. I could see he was forcing a smile at me. "I am a Spartan after all…"

I wasn't satisfied with his answer, nor the way he looked at me. I walked over to Kat and Jun who were talking tactics. I didn't join in their conversation though.

_Deja, do you think Thom is ok?_

_Hmm, no. He doesn't look well at all. It looks to me like he hasn't slept for weeks. Just keep and eye on him. Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid._

_Yeah, I think I'll do just that. I'll inform Jake too._

_Okay. I will talk to you again during the battle. Fight well, and love ya!_

"Jake," I said when he walked over. Opening up a private comm I continued. "Thom doesn't look so good. I was talking to Deja, and we both reckon we should keep an eye on him."

"Yeah, I agree. He came into my room last night taking gibberish, just like he was drunk," he said. "When I asked him what was wrong, he snapped out of it and looked up at me with a scared look on his face. He just went back to his room."

"Huh, odd. Well, just keep an eye on him," I replied.

We got onto two separate Falcons, and were dropped down into the fight. As soon as we hit the ground, we immediately scattered, taking out any Covenant in our way. I saw a group of Covvies consisting of 5 Elites, 2 grunts, and 2 Hunters. I lay down on the ground and started knocking the hats off of the elites with my Sniper. Once I had taken them down, I had just enough time to jump up and kill the suicidal grunts before they exploded in front of me. I was just about to take down the Hunters when-

"Jake! No!" I shouted into the comm. "Don't you dare kill that Hunter!"

"Haha! Watch me," he said calmly back into the mic. Without hesitation he shot it in the back then pummeled it down. Growling, I ran up behind the other one, and climbed up its back, jumped, and flipped through the air and brought my knife down its back. Jake just stood there staring at me in shock.

"Hahaha! That was AWESOME!" he shouted through the comm.

"Thanks," was all I said, then took off 'lone wolf' style charging into the confused and messy Covenant ranks.

_Deja, I need shielding from their bullets!_

_Already on it, darl._

_Thanks_

Deja set up small round shields that moved with the bullets. No bullets hit me, but I sure did hit the Covenant, taking several dozen Covvies.

I looked around. We were going to win this one for sure. I let my gaze look over each member of the team, seeing if they needed assistance. Thom was tempting fate as he took on more than he could handle. 4 Hunters plus suicidal grunts.

"Thom! You can't do that by yourself!" I screamed into the comm, but it was too late. He tried using my tactic by distracting them and then taking them down, but it wasn't working. A Hunter stood up behind him and roared. It brought its heavily armoured arm down on top of Thom. He crumple under the force and weight of the blow. Another charged up its plasma gun and aimed at Thom. I ran. I ran as fast as I could.

"Noble down! Need assistance!" I shouted.

"On my way," first Jorge then Emile said back.

I tried shooting with my Sniper Rifle, but it was out of ammo. I needed to get to Thom and fast. Looking around, I found a big rock sticking out of the ground. I jumped off the side of it, sending flying parallel to the ground towards Thom.

_that was a great idea! _

_Haha, thanks Deja._

I ran the rest of the way to Thom. I was completely out of ammo, but I still had a Magnum. Jumping up and over the two remaining Hunters, I picked up a plasma grenade and stuck one on the back, exploding it. The other I took out with my Magnum and Knife.

Tearing off Thom's helmet, I said, "Thom, please stay with me. Please don't go! Please!"

I was aware of Jake running over to us.

"No! No Thom! No!" Jakes voice came. He took off his own helmet and tears spilled down his face.

Thom looked up at his Team and smiled. He finally had a team that he hadn't abandoned yet. He had finally found a team worth staying with. He said, "I have had fun with you guys. You are the best Team in the world! I am going to miss you heaps!"

Thom closed his eyes and breathed one last time. A few tears rolled down his cheeks and he left us. I leant down crying and hugged him, then stood up. Jake hugged him too, then backed off and let the others say their final goodbye. Kat had been especially close to Thom, and was crying the hardest out of everyone. It hurt me so much to lose my best friend. I didn't know what to do. So I ran. I ran to the nearest aircraft and flew back to base. Grabbing my pillow, I ran as fast as I could to a clearing that I had found in the jungle. I sank to the ground and pushed my pillow up against a rock and cried myself to sleep.

Chapter 13

I looked around at my surroundings. It was midnight and there was a full moon, causing a strange brilliance to dance around the place. A beautiful, lush rainforest lay around me, and the sound of a huge waterfall was in front of me. Butterflies flew around, landing on Tropical flowers, and frogs croaked from in the water below.

Seeing a shadow, I drew my knife from its sheath and quickly slipped it up and rested it on the un-expecting Spartan.

"Oh, it's you Jake," I sighed. "Sorry."

"Hey, its ok. How are you feeling, girl?" he asked.

"Haha, I thought Thom and I were best friends, but I never realized it would hurt so much to lose him," I replied with a confused look on my face.

"Hmm, yeah it does hurt more than you think to lose a loved one," he said. "I know what you are going through right now, and I am going through it too, baby."

"I love you," I said to him, smiling weakly.

"And I love you too," he replied with a somewhat stronger smile.

Deja popped up in front of us and said _I love you too Skye!_

We both laughed, and Jake slid down beside me and put his arms around me and we fell asleep.

The next morning, Carter found us and took us home in a Warthog. We walked into the mess hall and ate breakfast with the rest of the Team. We were all very sad that Thom died, and his funeral was one to remember. He was buried with a beautiful gravestone that had a bullet and explosion proof glass case in the bottom of it, containing his helmet. His gravestone read:

Here lies

Thomas

2530-2552

He was an honored and trusted Spartan of the Noble Team.

Remember Thom. Remember what he gave to help Reach.

It was a day to remember. We had fireworks and we celebrated his life. We had several speeches about him, and we played games that he loved.

In the year 2553, the Human/Covenant war ended. The Humans won, and the Covenant were forced back to a corner of the galaxy, without Reach. The day we won, was a day to remember. My Team was a Team to remember. In the year 2554, I was married to Jake. We had a gorgeous wedding, and a beautiful cake. Kat and Carter got married the same year, and they too had a pretty wedding. As the months went on, it was time for me to move on and start a different story. Life had been great, so far, and I was looking forward to a good fight in the future. The Noble Team moved into their favourite base in the jungle, and we lived there permanently. We were called to do some awesome missions, and lived at the base in relative safety… Until one of us came up with an exciting idea involving explosives. It was great fun. Remember Noble Team. Remember that Spartans Never Die, they only go MIA. Remember how we fought for mankind and drove the Covenant away.

**Remember Reach**

The End


End file.
